This important activity lays emphasis on
National consensus building effort
Foundation for Democratic Reforms (FDR)
hoped initially that a nation-wide network leading to a single people’s movement is a
feasible proposition. However, the experience of the past two years taught us that in
today’s highly polarized India, linguistic barriers cannot be breached easily.
Therefore, consciously a decision was taken to limit the grassroots work and spread of the
movement to the area best known to the members, viz. Andhra Pradesh. However, the goal of
the movement is governance reform in India, and it is a national goal as most reforms of
political parties, elections, re-negotiation of federal relations, alternative methods of
ensuring stable and effective executive, bureaucracy, justice system and institutional
checks against abuse of office need union legislation or constitutional reform. Therefore,
FDR / Lok Satta movement should work for consensus building nationally to forge strong
alliances which will eventually become a national platform for governance reform movement.
The following four steps are proposed for
such an alliance-building which might lead to a cohesive national platform:
a) FDR seeks the following guidance and help from the
eminent citizens in the city:
- They may form into smaller groups, each group dealing with
one or more facets of governance reforms
- In about 6 months’ time each group should finalise a
clear, detailed and unambiguous statement of the reform proposals in the sector
- Each such proposed reform should be accompanied by
adequate documentation in support of it
- There should be total unanimity in the group on each
proposal
d) FDR will make the following
arrangements:
- Identification of a nodal agency to provide basic
infrastructure for the team’s work. For instance, Nehru Centre is the nodal agency
for Mumbai
- Meet travel expenses and incidentals of members within the
city or state
- Provide financial support for secretarial help
- Provide financial and other support for research and
documentation
e)After the report of a team is ready, it
will be published and circulated widely.
f) A regional workshop will be conducted
with all the teams in a city or State
g) A national work shop will be conducted
with all the core groups after careful preparation for building consensus around an agreed
agenda
3. Interaction with various
influential opinion makers and decision makers
Ultimately reforms can be
institutionalized only with the active support and willing consent of opinion makers and
decision makers. FDR therefore proposes to interact with
the following groups in a planned manner
in order to build consensus and promote tangible, specific reforms.
- captains of industry
- media persons, newspapers and television networks
- think tanks like Centre for Policy Research
- leaders of political parties
- senior civil servants
- members of parliament
- influential state-level leaders
- leaders of government
4. Workshops and national
consultations
Usually seminars and workshops are not
productive in generating effective and sustainable follow-up action. However, there is
need to have a few workshops and consultations for thorough and rigorous scrutiny of
specific reform proposals. FDR proposes to conduct a limited number of such workshops and
consultations after meticulous preparation.
It is difficult to envisage how exactly a
national movement for governance reforms can be promoted. However, the first step is
creation of a national platform, which in turn needs a critical mass of eminent citizens
who are committed to a set of specific governance reforms which are thoroughly researched
and well-documented, and around which a broad consensus is built.
All the organisations will soon becoming
together under one umbrella to form a Forum for Democratic Reforms
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